Greek elections

By MSS

Greeks went to the polls Sunday in general elections.

The ruling New Democracy clings to a narrow majority: 152 seats (50.6%), despite only 41.8% of the vote. The Socialist Party (known by its Greek acronym, PASOK) came in second with 38.1% of the vote and 102 seats. (See more-detailed results below.)

In part because of the recent devastating fires, the vote was closer than expected a month ago when the Prime Minister opted to go to the polls early. As a result, it was not immediately clear on election night who had won. Also in part because of the fires, voting for smaller parties was significantly higher than in past elections. These smaller parties include a far-right party that has not been in parliament previously and has been internationally denounced for its "virulent nationalism, anti-semitism, racism and xenophobia."

I still am not clear on the details of the electoral system (despite electoral systems being a specialty of mine), which has been changed since previous elections. However, the broad outlines are that the party with the most votes is guaranteed 40 "bonus" seats, while the other 260 now appear to be allocated as if there were a single national district. (I explain my "backwards induction" regarding the election at Fruits & Votes.)

Results in more detail, via EuroTrib -- the parties that made it into parliament have the following seat totals, vote percentages (and change in seats and votes from 2004):

ND (conservative) 152 41.84 % (-13 seats, -3.52%)
PASOK 102 (socialist) 38.10 % (-15, -2.45%)
KKE 22 (old school communist) 8.15 % (+10, +2,26%)
SYRIZA 14 (antineolib left - greens - radicals) 5.04 % (+8, +1.78%)
LAOS 10, 3.79 % (not in the 2004 parliament)